San Francisco - Wildfires near northern California's popular Yosemite National Park were largely under control Friday after a week of round-the-clock work by nearly 4,000 firefighters.

Authorities estimated the blazes in the Sierra Nevada mountains at 60-per-cent contained.

Residents evacuated from small towns in the mountains threatened by the fires were returning to their homes.

The latest official damage report included 21 homes and 33 other buildings destroyed, with 135 square kilometres of scorched forest. (dpa)